Episode 51: Enoch and the Book of Watchers

Fateful words from the book of Genesis 5:24. What ever happened to the pre-flood patriarch Enoch? Jews in the second-temple period tell us, in a large and complex body of writings known as the Enochic texts, fragments of which are extant in Aramaic, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and a host of later languages. When we put all the disparate evidence together, we get a picture of a type of second temple Judaism not particularly concerned with Moses or the Mosaic law, but very alive to the imminent end of the world, the judgement by God of the righteous and the wicked, angels and fallen angels, cosmic ascent and hallucinatory visions, and much else besides.

This episode begins to explore this literature, looking in particular at the first section of 1 Enoch, a text commonly known as the Book of Watchers. This very old apocalyptic text (dated by some as far back as the third century BCE) contains all of the characteristic elements of apocalyptic mentioned above, and also fills in the gaps of the Genesis account, giving us a window on what Enoch was really up to. There are fallen angels, evil giants, flaming crystal palaces in the sky, and visions-within-visions. This is not the Judaism you find in the Bible.

Works Discussed in this Episode:

1 Enoch: We are quoting in this episode from Charles, R. H., 1913. The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament in English. Clarendon, Oxford.

Recommended Reading:

Black, M., 1970. Apocalypsis Henochi Graece. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands. An edition of what is known of 1 Enoch in Greek; more stuff has since been discovered, but this has yet to be replaced as a one-stop-shop for Greek Enoch.

Themes

Comments

Thomas KieferJanuary 2, 2019

For an interesting study as to how ancient ideas can show up in the most peculiar places and times, and also how they are interpreted or appear in those, check out the Japanese animated series (anime; it’s also in print form as manga) entitled “Attack on Titan”: the series begins with the remnants of humanity behind walls, in order to protect themselves from… man-eating titans. I don’t want to spoil anything, but as the series unfolds, some Enochian themes emerge….

But for the TRULY INCREDIBLE full “mash-up” of the Book of Enoch and Japanese pop culture (as well as their cultural fear of apocalypse), see the animated series “Neon Genesis Evangelion” (forgive their Greek). I recommend beginning with the original late 1990s series, with both endings (long story), before watching the current reboot. Humanity is trying to protect itself from the Enochian endtimes…. The portrayal of the Angels therein will boggle the mind (e.g., Ramiel is a skyscraper-sized floating silver octohedron). There’s so much more of the Book in there, and the series itself has taken on legends of its own.